Monday, March 07, 2011

I realized that I was pretty cranky when I wrote my previous post. I blame it on my diet. I'm participating in a New Year's weight loss challenge at the office. We're in week 8 right now and even though I'm doing fairly well - there are 20 participants and I am currently in the top 3 overall "losers" - I am constantly dreaming about food. In the beginning I was dreaming about pizza from Flour+Water, but now I am dreaming about dessert.

Being on a diet and living in one of the best food cities in the country has been tough, but I guess dieting is tough no matter where you live. Over the past two months I've learned to adjust my eating habits. I've always had fairly decent habits. I eat lots of vegetables and fruits, very little processed/packaged foods, and 98% of the time my drink of choice is plain water. I always bring my lunch to work and my husband and I only eat dinner out 2 or 3 times a month. But my portion size was out of control and desserts were hard for me to pass up. So instead of changing what I eat, I've just changed how much I eat. Before I put any food in my mouth, I always stop and ask myself if it's worth using my limited daily allotment of calories on it.

I can still have a 4505 Meats cheddar bratwurst when I go to the Ferry Building, but instead of eating the whole thing, I will eat a third of the bratwurst and none of that delicious bread that it comes nestled in. On the bright side, I can have all the sauerkraut I want. And that 4505 sauerkraut is definitely yummy enough to make me almost forget the other two-thirds of the bratwurst. I've survived Chinese New Year celebrations, fried chicken and cream biscuits at Prospect, and a pasta tasting at Perbacco.

You would think that I could make things easier on myself if I stopped baking during the weight loss challenge. But asking me to stop baking is like asking me to stop breathing. I just cannot survive without it. And I have been baking a lot lately. Most of it's been tempting, but not blog worthy. I've been able to resist the florentine cookies and lemon mousse cake I made for the Daring Bakers' challenges as well as the chocolate cake I made for Valentine's Day. I usually take one or two bites of what I make just for quality control purposes. Have you ever had just one bite of chocolate cake? It's really, really hard to stop after just one bite. But I did. And that's how it's been for weeks.

But my resolve is starting to wane. And it's all because of these damned pumpkin donut muffins. Damn the internet for bringing these to my attention. Damn Martha Stewart. Damn. Damn. Damn.

These baked pumpkin donut muffins are so hard to resist. They are insanely good. Baking them in a miniature muffin pan gives them the appearance of donut holes which adds to their appeal. They are moist and spicy with that lovely crackly sugar coating.

One bite and I was hooked. I could not stop at just one bite. One bite turned into 2 into 4 into 10. I ended up eating two whole mini muffins. And, yeah, I know, those calories are not going to hurt me, but in the long run every calorie adds up. I guess it just means that I have to stay on that treadmill a little bit longer.

Although I am now constantly dreaming about these pumpkin donut muffins, they are way too dangerous for me to make again. However, the recipe is too good to keep to myself. So bake 'em at your own risk. Baked Pumpkin Donut Muffins
(Recipe from Martha Stewart)

3. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, pumpkin puree and vanilla. Set aside.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl as necessary.

5. On low speed, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of the pumpkin mixture. Mix until everything is just incorporated.

6. Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each muffin well and bake at 350F until a toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes. Let muffins cool 10 minutes in pan on cooling rack.

7. Meanwhile, make your sugary coating. In a medium bowl combine granulated sugar and cinnamon. Working with one at a time, remove muffins from pan; brush all over with melted butter, then coat in the sugar mixture.

[NOTE: Martha says the recipe yields 12 standard (3.5- to 4- fluid ounce capacity wells) muffins, but it definitely makes much more. I got 24 miniature muffins and 10 standard muffins. I baked the miniature muffins at 350F for about 14 minutes. I baked the standard muffins at 350F for about 25 minutes. Since I had more muffins to coat, I had to increase my topping quantities accordingly.]

10 comments:

Dieting is difficult, especially for bakers. But I think it's the actual process and challenge that makes it so alluring, so when I'm trying to be healthy, I'll still bake, but just give most of it away to family and friends. :)

Those look so wonderful. I have been dieting and baking as well - a tough combination to be sure. Fortunately, I have a nursing mother friend who is more than happy to take the goodies off of my hands. She has had at least two batches of your lemon bars (which are DIVINE). I think I will try making these for her this weekend.

A few weeks ago I stumbled across the concept of "Intuitive Eating", quite accidentally. The principles sound like the perfect solution to the "diet vs. pleasure" dilemma. Just google "Intuitive Eating" and you will find a great wealth of information. Nobody can stay on a diet forever. Sooner or later willpower runs out - then what? These guidelines could be very helpful. I don't want to be pushy... but I would have been glad if someone had pointed me in this direction some years earlier...

I'm a fourteen year-old who loves to bake and I have been a huge fan of your recipes for a couple years now. Most of the time I bake, I will alter, combine, or create my own recipe, but when I bake something coming from your blog I know everything will be just right, so I never have to alter. Today, I made these pumpkin doughnut muffins for my mom after she tactfully got us home from the city in a snowstorm (in October! Ice, tree limbs and wires falling, and all!) She absolutely loved them, and so did I! (Plus, we took care of the extra batter, which was delicious :)). My younger sister recently wrote in school that her favorite food was the Red Velvet Cake Kisses I make with your recipe. Even my picky little brother loves your food. When I made the baked doughnuts last year, my mom thought they had come from a bakery! My friends are practically tired of hearing me rave about your blog all the time. After a couple years of making your recipes without a thank you, I thought you definitely deserved one. Keep baking… please! Your fan, Missy

The alpine strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is a cousin of the wild strawberry. It's sometimes simply referred to as alpineberry. I love to bake, cook and garden. My blog is a place to share my recipes and other tiny tidbits of my life.